The invention relates generally to cutting inserts and, more particularly, relates to round cutting inserts having an anti-rotation feature for preventing rotation of the round cutting insert mounted onto the body of a cutting tool.
The inserts used in tools such as, for example, milling cutters are mounted in complementarily-shaped pockets spaced around the periphery of the tool body. The inserts are typically secured within their respective pockets by clamping screws inserted through a hole provided in the center of the insert. During a cutting operation, such inserts often experience not only compressive and vibratory forces, but some amount of torque due to the angle between the cutting edges of the inserts and the workpiece. For cutting inserts of non-round shapes, such torque does not result in the rotation of the insert due to the interference-type fit between the angled sidewalls of such inserts and the complementarily-shaped walls of the pocket that receive them. By contrast, round inserts can rotate within their respective pockets since no such mechanical interference naturally arises between the cylindrical or frustro-conical sidewalls of round inserts and the corresponding circular walls of the pockets which receive them. The resulting rotation can loosen the clamping screw that secures the insert within its respective pocket. If the clamping screw should become sufficiently loosened, it can vibrate within the surrounding pocket severely enough to become chipped or cracked not only ruining the insert, but also jeopardizing the quality of the cut on the workpiece.
What is needed is an effective anti-rotation feature for round cutting inserts which effectively prevents such inserts from rotating without creating local stresses in either the body of the cutting insert or the pocket that receives it. Therefore, the present invention has been developed in view of the foregoing.